Separately, in 2009 the E.U.'s anti-fraud unit, Olaf, reported 4,931 "irregularities" in these funds, accounting for €1.22 billion — an increase of 109 percent in the cost of questionable projects since 2008.
In June, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma released a list of 100 "questionable" projects in development, valued at $5.5 billion.
This study attracted negative attention this year from Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who listed it as one of the "questionable" projects financed by the National Science Foundation in a report challenging the foundation's budget for the social sciences.
One example of using a jobs criterion to finance a questionable project, watchdog groups say, could be the Delaware River dredging project.
Making friends with these people is beginning to seem like a questionable project.
"I am convinced that one of the lessons of the last three years is probably that the luxury poles are still, maybe more than before, questionable projects," said Armando Branchini, managing director of InterCorporate, a luxury goods consulting firm in Milan.
Of course, more could be done to prevent questionable projects from getting funded in the first place.
"But we still have too many questionable projects being funded," he added, "and the sheer volume of earmark requests imposes an impossible burden on the Appropriations Committee".
The one that drove protesters into the streets on Monday involved accusations in a government audit that members of Congress worked with associates to divert discretionary public funds to sham organizations and questionable projects in return for bribes.
In some cases, universities have not permitted questionable projects to go forward.
